Start by using your body as the force behind your swing; not just your arm! That should give you plenty of power! Just look at the touring pros - they just use their body as the force behind the hitting of the ball - most of them hit the ball while their entire body is off the ground! How that for force huh?

Decreasing the tension will do wonders. I have several of the dunlop maxply mcenroe (graphite), even a few new models, and they are very much control rackets. I would string at 45lbs using natural gut or a copoly like rpm or hex and add some lead at 3/9, gradually buildup the weight to approx 1 more oz. NRG2 is nice but not as powerful as nat gut, you may love the results with a hybrid.

i am currently playing with the dunlop maxply mcenroe (graphite) and wanted to get some advice on trying to maximize the racquet for more power.

currently: 11.4 ounces
balance: 5 points
swing weight: 327

had it measured at the local pro shop.

to start, i usually string the racquets at about 60 lbs, so i am going to change that to a lower tension (55 lbs). i have been using tecnifibre nrg2's forever and still love that string.

what is more effective to increase the power?

adding more static weight? adding a heavier swing weight?

i would like to keep the balance the same if possible.

thanks for your advice

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Switching from NRG2 to gut at the same tension will give you the most "power" or additional speed of shot. Going from NRG to gut would give you maybe 1.5-2 extra miles per hour on your hard groundstrokes and serves.

Dropping NRG tension by 5 pounds will give you about 1/4 of one mile per hour extra, or thereabouts.

Adding mass to the head of your racquet will increase the swingweight and intrinsic power of the frame. This may or may not give you extra ball speed: If you do not currently swing as fast as you can on groundstrokes, raising the swingweight will probably result in you swinging the stick about as fast as before, but the racquet will be more intrinsically powerful, so you could see faster shot speeds as a result. But the gains will be modest. Bumping your SW by 10 units might result in about 1mph extra on your shots.

Adding mass to the handle of the frame, thus increasing its static weight but not the swingweight, will not make the racquet more intrinsically powerful and most likely not result in higher shot speeds. But, handle weight sometimes helps a racquet swing more in "tune" with the players swingstyle, which could, in theory, result in quicker racquet-head speed, but this is very murky stuff and I wouldn't bet on it.

Despite all the marketing hype, racquets really do not differ much in terms of power. They do differ in the size of the sweetzone, so you will have less drop-off in shot speeds if you hit outside the center of the strings with an oversize frame than a mid (the oversize is more "forgiving"). For a good article on racquet power check out "Power: Does the racquet matter?"

I wonder what level of player are you and what kind of power are you getting now? I found NRG2 to be quite powerful in general, but I have experienced that some multis strung on lockout machines get mushy and end up lessening power. Changing tensions might help, but you also might want to change stringers or machines.

One advantage that I love about mushy power absorbing multis is that you can get insane spin if you're willing to swing really hard. They also volley amazing.

I wonder what level of player are you and what kind of power are you getting now? I found NRG2 to be quite powerful in general, but I have experienced that some multis strung on lockout machines get mushy and end up lessening power. Changing tensions might help, but you also might want to change stringers or machines.

One advantage that I love about mushy power absorbing multis is that you can get insane spin if you're willing to swing really hard. They also volley amazing.

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i am currently playing at a 3.5 level hoping to eventually move up to 4.0.

i am just trying to find little ways that i can tweak my racquets to get a little more power.

i know that it is more the person then the racquet but anything i can do i will try.

I would not try a hybrid with poly if you want more power. All poly is a low power string. NRG2 is a premium multi. You are on the right path - try NRG2 at 55 lbs. If that is still a bit too stiff drop it to 53 lbs.

If you try the hybrid anyhow, try nrg2 in the mains at 54 with co-poly in the crosses at 51 lbs. This will give you better power than co-poly mains and almost as much spin - some say more spin.

i am currently playing at a 3.5 level hoping to eventually move up to 4.0.

i am just trying to find little ways that i can tweak my racquets to get a little more power.

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Well, my advice would be to forget about power at this stage. I don't think it's important until you get up towards the 5.0 level. Most 4.0 and 4.5 players don't hit the ball all that hard.

I am a hard hitter myself, and it's a tendency I'm learning to repress. It's much easier to win points if you learn to play the game. People at the upper 4.0 and higher levels can handle power without too much trouble. The sooner you learn how to work the court the better off you'll be.

Having said that, power comes from technique more so than equipment. If you progress to the point where you really do have power I you will want a control frame rather than a power frame. That would most likely be a midsize frame, not an oversize frame.

Well, my advice would be to forget about power at this stage. I don't think it's important until you get up towards the 5.0 level. Most 4.0 and 4.5 players don't hit the ball all that hard.

I am a hard hitter myself, and it's a tendency I'm learning to repress. It's much easier to win points if you learn to play the game. People at the upper 4.0 and higher levels can handle power without too much trouble. The sooner you learn how to work the court the better off you'll be.

Having said that, power comes from technique more so than equipment. If you progress to the point where you really do have power I you will want a control frame rather than a power frame. That would most likely be a midsize frame, not an oversize frame.

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thanks for the advice.

i agree with you 100%

i need to work more on my mechanics, technique and consistency and possibly in time power will come hopefully with control.

I agree with some of the other posters before, the greatest gains in power come from great technique and a relatively small boost can come from equipment modifications. Assuming a lot, I would suggest getting a good hitting coach to watch you play to see if there is anything you can do technique wise to improve your power. Very often people modify their equipment to increase power and then find out they are also decreasing control and hitting balls wide and long. A good hitting coach may find that you are doing something that inhibits both power and control and soon after bettering your technique your level climbs.

It can't hurt to try adding 5 grams to the top of the hoop or so and see what the results are. That's where the most gains in power can be had. Of course using more leg drive will increase power dramatically. If I stand flat footed and swing as hard as I can, I still cannot generate as much torque as I can launching up and into the ball while swinging at about 50%.